create-meowkit

Scaffold the full MeowKit system into your project, or update an existing installation.

How it works

The CLI is a thin package on npm. It downloads the latest release from GitHub Releases, extracts it, and installs .claude/ into your project. No templates are bundled in the npm package.

npm registry → thin CLI (~50KB)
GitHub Releases → release zip (.claude/, tasks/, CLAUDE.md)

Usage

npm create meowkit@latest [options]

What happens

1. Fetches latest stable release from GitHub (or beta with --beta)
2. Asks two optional questions — project description + Gemini API key
3. Downloads the release zip and extracts to a temp directory
4. Scaffolds .claude/ into your project via smart update
5. Validates the installation
6. Cleans up temp files

Component	Count	Description
Agents	14	Specialist agents (planner, developer, reviewer, ...)
Skills	49	Pipeline skills (cook, fix, ship, review, qa, ...)
Commands	18	Slash commands
Modes	7	Behavioral modes (default, strict, fast, ...)
Rules	14	Enforcement rules (security, TDD, gates, ...)
Hooks	6	Lifecycle hooks
Scripts	6	Python validation + security scripts

Smart Update

When .claude/ already exists, the CLI switches to update mode automatically:

• Core files (agents, rules, hooks, scripts) — overwritten if you haven't modified them
• User-modified files — skipped with a warning
• New files — always added
• User config (CLAUDE.md, meowkit.config.json, .env) — never overwritten

A .claude/meowkit.manifest.json tracks file checksums to detect user modifications.

Use --force to overwrite everything regardless.

Options

Flag	Alias	Description
--force	-f	Overwrite all files (ignore user modifications)
--dry-run	-n	Preview files without writing
--beta		Use latest beta release instead of stable
--global	-g	Install as global config (~/.claude/)
--json		Structured JSON output (for CI/scripting)
--verbose	-v	Enable debug logging
--help	-h	Show help

What it creates

your-project/
├── CLAUDE.md                          # Project conventions (root)
├── tasks/                             # Task templates
│   └── templates/                     # Feature, bug-fix, refactor, security
└── .claude/
    ├── agents/                        # 14 specialist agents
    ├── skills/                        # 49 skills (meow: namespace)
    ├── commands/                      # 18 slash commands
    ├── modes/                         # 7 behavioral modes
    ├── rules/                         # 14 enforcement rules
    ├── hooks/                         # 6 lifecycle hooks
    ├── scripts/                       # Validation + security scripts
    ├── settings.json                  # Hook registrations + permissions
    ├── meowkit.config.json            # Project config
    ├── meowkit.manifest.json          # Checksum manifest (for updates)
    ├── env.example                    # .env template (for agent API keys)
    ├── mcp.json.example               # MCP server config template
    ├── gitignore.meowkit              # Entries to append to .gitignore
    └── memory/                        # Cross-session persistence

Version channels

Channel	Command	Source
Stable	npm create meowkit@latest	Latest GitHub release (not prerelease)
Beta	npm create meowkit@latest -- --beta	Latest GitHub prerelease